Just as the savanna of East Africa had captivated me, so did the nature on Svalbard when I first arrived here in April 2022. In April of this year, we visited this magical place for the fourth time. We planned to stay for 10 days, once again traveling by snowmobile and once again just Willem and I with our two guide friends, Andreas and Evan. Our dream: a portrait of a polar bear running straight toward us, making eye contact, along with an exciting behind-the-scenes film. 

The weather was extremely challenging — it was too warm. Temperatures just below zero degrees cause ground fog to form. This, combined with thick, low-hanging clouds, transforms the breathtaking landscape into one vast whiteout. A nirvana of invisibility in pure white — with no beginning and no end, no horizon, nothing else, just white. Out of 10 days, we were only able to go out on 8 of them. A total of 1,500 km on snowmobiles, more than half of which was with visibility of less than 10 meters. The result: no polar bear sightings — or almost none. On the fifth day, Evan spotted two polar bears about 3 km away. However, they were in terrain where I couldn’t find a suitable angle for my photo. The days passed and my impatience grew. Every morning we set out anew, and every evening we returned to our camp empty-handed.

On the last day, about a 4-hour scooter ride from our camp, I ate another Drytech at 5:30 p.m. to recharge my energy. After 9 days without any real chance of getting a photo, it was hard to stay optimistic — we knew our guide would want to head back at any moment… and then this! Visibility was actually quite good, even though there was no direct sunlight. Even spotted a lone polar bear. This time, it was even 4 kilometers away. From a distance of 1 kilometer, you can tell whether you can “work” with a polar bear or not. Most of the time, they’re aggressive, so you have to get to safety immediately, or they’re extremely shy. In that case, they deliberately run in the opposite direction as soon as they notice us. In either case, there’s no chance of getting any shots. We adjusted the snowmobiles and drove closer. I was filled with tension. How would he react when he noticed us?